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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 7:35:17 GMT -8
Justice is a dish best served cold because if it were served warm, it would be justwater.
The Worst Hurdler in the World. (Story Below)
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 7:46:32 GMT -8
FWIW, There Are New Wildfires in Canada, So Cal, the Canary Islands, and South Africa.
Lots of flooding and heat, too.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 7:51:53 GMT -8
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. We Free Willy and This Happens
Four swimmers have been injured in dolphin attacks on a beach in central Japan, officials say.
One man, in his 60s, suffered broken ribs and bites to his hands after a dolphin rammed him a few metres off Suishohama beach in the town of Mihama, Fukui prefecture, early on Sunday.
Another man, in his 40s, sustained arm bites in a separate incident on the popular beach the same morning.
Two more people were injured by the mammals later in the day.
Fukui has now recorded six such attacks this year, local police say.
Signs have been put up telling swimmers to avoid approaching or touching the mammals.
While dolphins are not usually aggressive to humans, hostility towards swimmers is not unheard of.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 7:54:52 GMT -8
This Sounds Like Hell to MeUnder a scorching sun, Hamida Dandoush sprinkles water on her tent in an attempt to cool it down, hoping to alleviate the high temperatures for herself and her family. The 62-year-old woman from the town of Maardabsah is residing in the Saharah camp near the Syrian-Turkish border, where approximately 80 displaced families are enduring harsh living conditions amid the intense heatwave striking the region. “We live as if we are inside an oven, struggling to breathe due to the heat inside the tent. If it weren’t for the water we sprinkle on the tent, we would have died from the intense heat,” Dandoush told Al Jazeera on Saturday. Dandoush, who lives in a tent with her daughter and grandchild, said that every day she makes seemingly futile attempts to cool things down, including placing her grandchild in a plastic container and pouring cold water over him. “If elderly people like us cannot bear this weather, how can young children?” said Dandoush. “Yesterday, my grandson started trembling and had difficulty breathing, so we took him to the hospital, and they told us it happened due to the heat inside the tent.” Warm weather affecting displaced people living in camps in northwest Syria is expected to escalate in the coming days, further exacerbating the suffering of those living in tents, which lack cooling mechanisms and are made of nylon fabric that intensifies the reflected heat. The Syrian Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, has warned people not to expose themselves to the sun for prolonged periods in the coming days as temperatures rise above 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit). They also advised increasing water and fluid intake to avoid dehydration and cautioned against placing gas cylinders in the sun to prevent fires. “The heatwave coincided with an increase in the number of fires in the current month. Our teams have extinguished more than 200 fires since the beginning of this month, including 93 fires in agricultural lands, 21 fires in forests, 36 fires in civilian homes and 10 fires in displacement camps,” said Ahmad Yazji, a board member of the Syrian Civil Defence. Living in ‘an oven’: Heatwave grips displacement camps in Syria
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 7:56:49 GMT -8
Hey Big Spender
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped out top donors and burned through $7.9 million in his first six weeks as a presidential candidate, according to an NBC News analysis of his new campaign finance disclosure.
The numbers suggest, for the first time, that solvency could be a threat to DeSantis’ campaign, which has touted its fundraising ability as a key measure of viability. They reflect the broader reality that DeSantis stalled after his launch: polling ahead of the Republican primary pack but far behind former President Donald Trump.
In another sign of the financial strain on the campaign, DeSantis has fired a dozen staffers in what a source familiar with the move described as a cost-cutting measure, NBC News reported Saturday evening.
The irony for DeSantis is that he raised a total of $20.1 million between mid-May and the end of June, easily ahead of other Republican candidates — even Trump, whose campaign raised $17.7 million from April through June, though Trump's campaign committee did end the quarter with twice as much money to spend as DeSantis.
But more than two-thirds of DeSantis’ money — nearly $14 million — came from donors who gave the legal maximum and cannot donate again, NBC’s analysis shows. Some of those donors gave the $3,300 limit for both the primary and general elections, boosting DeSantis’ totals with cash that can’t be used to try to defeat Trump.
DeSantis finished June with more than $12.2 million in the bank, but his filing indicates that $3 million of that can only be used in the general election. Trump’s campaign ended the quarter with $22.5 million on hand.
At the same time, DeSantis spent about 40 percent of what he raised, in part by paying salaries to 92 people (before the staff firings). That gave him by far the biggest staff footprint of the GOP presidential candidates, but also left him with the question of how he can sustain his payroll — or anything close to it — without finding new sources of revenue. Already, he is struggling to keep high-profile supporters on board.
DeSantis does have a financial edge no one else can match in the form of his super PAC, which can accept donations of unlimited size and already took in $130 million. But keeping a campaign humming on smaller donations can be a different matter entirely.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 7:59:52 GMT -8
A Kennedy Can Kill
The apex of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s propagandizing to Black folks can be seen, literally, in the 2021 movie, Medical Racism: The New Apartheid.
The film rolled out just as the COVID-19 vaccine was becoming available, making it an opportune moment for Kennedy to spread yet more vaccine hesitancy among a population which, at least up until that point, was being disproportionately hit and hurt by the virus. Billing itself as a “documentary,” the movie includes a predominately Black roster of expert talking heads—doctors, historians, academics, public health advocates—and juxtaposes their interviews against accounts of inhumane abuses against Black folks committed by the American medical establishment.
In one instance, referencing a small-sample 2014 Mayo Clinic study that found Somali immigrants, Somali Americans, and other Black Americans (basically, folks of direct and diasporic African descent) had more vigorous antibody responses to the rubella vaccine than white study participants. After citing the study, physician Charles Penick, a noted vaccine skeptic, states that Black children “need probably about half the dose that kids are given,” lest they risk vaccine overdose.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 8:02:30 GMT -8
That Was Quick
Remember that MAGA judge who last week decided the federal government was censoring right-wing views and banned the feds from talking to social media?
Well, the Honorable Terry A. Doughty — yep, that’s his name. You can’t make this up — uhm, Doughty’s order was appealed, and today the 5th Circuit issued, with no comment, an emergency stay. Routine cooperation about election security and other issues can now resume.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 8:03:03 GMT -8
Who Won the Week?
The Department of Justice, for declaring that the government will no longer shield Trump from civil liability in E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit
NJ Governor Phil Murphy (D) for signing a bill to cap co-pays for EpiPens at $25, insulin at $35, and asthma inhalers at $50, slashing out-of-pocket costs for health care
President Biden: enthusiastic welcome in Britain, Finland, & NATO summit; inflation drops to 3%; stays on top of FEMA response to flooding in VT and NY; forgives debt for 800,000 student loans
Karma, as Rep. James Comer's exalted "whistleblower" star witness against the Bidens fails to testify because he's a fugitive from justice as an alleged Chinese spy
The FDA: Oks the Opill as 1st birth control pill in the U.S. to be sold without a prescription, expanding access to contraception and reducing the need for abortions
Sweden, as Turkey drops its objection and clears the path for the country to become the 32nd member of NATO
Snow shovels, which made a rare summer appearance in Vermont as volunteers use them to clean up mess from historic floods
The Black Lives Matter movement, marking 10 years since its creation in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin's murderer
Fuel for Ron DeSantis's nightmares, as 60 performers at Darcelle's Cabaret in Portland, Oregon break a Guinness World Record for the longest drag show: 48 hours and 11 minutes
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 8:04:41 GMT -8
It's Not As If the Media is Telling Anyone
Did you know that US unemployment under Joe Biden has been below 4 percent for the longest stretch in 50 years?
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 8:08:18 GMT -8
It Doesn't Really Matter. Previous Guy Will Spend a Ton on Lawyers and Grift a Lot to Himself
President Joe Biden's re-election campaign ended last month with about $20 million in the bank, just trailing the $22 million plus reported by Republican front-runner Donald Trump, according to financial disclosures released on Saturday.
The disclosures filed to the Federal Election Commission point to a competitive money race ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.
Biden, a Democrat, has amassed a smaller war chest than past presidents at this point in recent re-election campaigns. Democrat Barack Obama had $37 million at this point in 2011, while Trump had over $56 million in June 2019.
The funds detailed in the disclosures represent a significant chunk of the funding behind the campaigns, but do not include money gathered by allied super PACs, which typically raise massive sums from the wealthiest donors and are due to disclose details on their finances later in July.
Biden's campaign announced on Friday that his re-election effort, when including the Democratic Party's accounts, had $77 million in the bank.
The president is not expected to face a serious challenge in the Democratic nomination contest.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 8:10:09 GMT -8
There's No Shortage of Illegal Drugs, But ...When Akorn Pharmaceuticals shut its doors in February, hospitals across the country felt it. The Lake Forest, Illinois-based drugmaker was responsible for producing 75 generic drugs, all of which were pulled from the market when the company closed down. In some cases, the company was the sole supplier of particular products. The closure comes amid — and contributed to — an ongoing drug shortage crisis in the U.S. Akorn’s bankruptcy and subsequent shuttering is part of a bigger disaster caused by fewer manufacturers in the U.S. making cheaper generic drugs, scarce profits for the remaining companies and an overly complicated global supply chain that could leave patients scrambling for lifesaving medications for months or possibly years to come. New drug shortages increased by nearly 30% between 2021 and 2022, affecting 295 products at the end of last year, according to a March report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The drug shortages are affecting cancer patients who are in desperate need of chemotherapy drugs and people in intensive care units or emergency rooms who need certain generic intravenous medications, which are in tight supply. The shortages are getting worse: As of June, there were more than 300 active drug shortages, the most in nearly a decade, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, a professional organization that tracks drug shortages. How one U.S. drugmaker contributed to the escalating drug shortage crisis
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 16, 2023 8:12:19 GMT -8
The Worst Hurdler in the World
Unless an athlete is competing in the decathlon or heptathlon, they are trained in a given specialty or specialties.
At the world championship level, it would be absurd to imagine a trained swimmer competing in a round of Greco- Roman Wrestling, or a world class deadlifter competing in a gymnastics floor routine or on the parallel bars.
Unless there was a very compelling reason.
Such as saving your countries team from disqualification.
Such was the case on June 26th, at Slaski Stadium, at the European Athletics Team Championships in Krakow, Poland.
Competing to see who would ultimately represent their countries at the Olympics.
In the 100 Meter Hurdles, both of Belgium’s hurdlers, runners Anna Zagr and Hanne Claes, were too injuried to compete.
In these meets, every point counts towards the total.
And with enough points, a country is able to maintain its standing to stay as a Division 1 team in the Championships.
Without representing themselves in the 100 Meter Hurdles, Belgium was sure to be disqualified from Division One and drop to Division Two.
Even coming in last place in the race would give them two points, and those were important to the whole.
The entire team was assembled to discuss the situation.
Would someone go out and compete against top level runners in an event that they are decidedly untrained for?
So, facing the loss of the points, one hand and one hand only rose.
That of 29- year-old Jolien Maliga Boumkwo.
She is well known in her home country, as a 12 time national champion and 9 time indoor national champion in the shot putt, hammer throw and the discus throw.
She had just placed 7th in the shot put, and recently broke her own national record.
She has a body trained to excel at her sport, in both height and weight.
And here she was, raising her hand, smiling all the while and preparing to compete with those a decade younger, a foot shorter, and half her weight in a sport decidedly not her own.
Her coach agreed … as long as she did it carefully.
“I was like: it would be a pity if just we would lose by one point so I will just take this on my account and just go for it and enjoy every moment.
For me, that’s important as well when you’re doing sports at a high level.
I checked with my coach if there were any risks for me doing it and he gave me a green light.”
Talk about taking one for the team…..
“I thought the chance would have been very small of me having to do this,” she said. “If I’m going to do this, I want to make the best of it and try to enjoy it.”
She beamed her smile and waved when introduced at the starting line.
She wasn’t concerned about her speed nor form, but remembering the hurdling techniques she learned in Junior High School.
She noted afterwards that she wasn’t nervous about the race.
“It was a beautiful atmosphere. I took my race seriously. I took it hurdle by hurdle.”
Jolien finished the race without knocking down any of the hurdles with a time of 32.81 seconds.
A personal best, all things considered.
19 seconds after Teresa Errandonea of Spain who won with 13.22.
She was applauded by the spectators and was congratulated by her rivals as Maja Maunsbach of Sweden greeted Jolien at the finish line with a double-handed high five. Portugal’s Catarina Queiros extended a hand.
And she indeed earned the two points for Team Belgium.
Carefully and calmly.
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